When She Was Bad [Paperback]

Ron Faust (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

Chantral, a ruthless seductress who destroys everyone she encounters, tempts Dan Stark with promises of love and paradise, and as he discovers her true nature, Dan realizes that he must kill Chantral or become her next victim. Reprint. PW. LJ.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One man's obsession with a world-class femme fatale powers this fast-running but unreliable thriller by the author of In the Forest of the Night . Local reporter Dan Stark meets the woman of his dreams--and nightmares--when shipwreck survivor Christine Terry is brought ashore to the Florida Keys. Narrator Dan, an impetuous sort, falls hard for both the self-possessed beauty and her tale of a fortune in emeralds that sank with the sailboat that was ferrying her from Colombia to Miami. Quitting his job, Dan sails with Christine to recover the gems, only to see his fantasy voyage of sun and sex shattered when, the emeralds found, Christine maroons him on a reef, from which he's rescued by a passing ship. Seven years later, Dan, still under Christine's spell despite realizing that she killed the sailboat's owner and nearly did him in, too, tracks her to Aspen, where she's the cocaine kingpin of high ski society. Disguised as a crude but savvy drug lord, he deals his way to Christine in order to extract a brutal revenge, a tit-for-tat pattern that continues over the years, with vengeance pursued by shooting, arson, fraud and attempted drowning. Christine usually gets the upper hand, but Dan, whose mutation from victim to avenger is unconvincing, always comes back for more, like a punch-drunk palooka. Throughout, Faust's prose is as smooth and bright as a sunlit mirror. At first, the pair's wicked tanglings grip, but by novel's end the combat seems more like slapstick than suspense, a dead-end for Faust's prodigious, if here misdirected, talent.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Dan Stark is a reporter for a small Florida Keys newspaper. One day, a woman is rescued from a raft after spending 19 days on the open sea following a yachting mishap. Stark loses his job and decides to help her find the emeralds that she was forced to abandon when the yacht sank. Thus begins a tale of love and hate, obsession and vengeance, and trust and betrayal. Faust ( In the Forest of the Night , LJ 2/15/93) leads the reader into the machinations of two people who shoot each other, steal from each other, and lie to each other. The one thing they cannot do, though, is forget each other. Told in simple, unembellished prose, the story grips and entices, eventually leading to a smashing denouement. For most popular collections.
- Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: Forge (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812513800
• ISBN-13: 978-0812513806
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Thriller, November 27, 2004

By 

Ty Treadwell, author of The Devil Did Grin (GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When She Was Bad (Paperback)

I have to admit it; I've read four or five books by Ron Faust and most of them are simply not very good, but the stars lined up just right when he wrote When She Was Bad. This book is virtually flawless; the characters are fascinating, the plot is exciting and original, the dialogue is dead-on, and the writing itself echoes the muscular prose of Hemingway at his finest. I've read this book three times over the years and loved it every single time. A gripping Hitchcockian thriller that spans a period of about 20 years, filled with both action and solid emotion. A winner on all counts.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faust is such a literary stud, September 24, 2004

By 

DFW Book Lover (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When She Was Bad (Hardcover)

I absolutely loved this book. I'm a novelist myself but it's books like this, that are written with such verve and style, that sometimes make me want to quit writing. I'm damn good, but I still don't think I could ever match Faust's outstanding prose, dead-on dialogue, and hold-your-breath plotting.

As another reviewer stated, why in the heck hasn't this been made into a major motion picture? It is infinitely better than 96 percent of the stuff being released. I started reading this book at midnight (I usually read for about an hour before I fall asleep) --- Well, Ron Faust got me good. I continued reading through the night and finished at four in the morning. I had to go to the office without any sleep. It was that good. I can't wait to read the remainder of Faust's oeuvre.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GRIPPING, May 1, 2001

By 

Paola Padovan Hubbard (Key Biscayne, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When She Was Bad (Paperback)

From the first page, Faust takes you on an adventure of mystery, intrigue and treachery. From the Keys to Aspen to Mexico and culminating in the Caribbean, one man's quest to understand what drives a woman to stop at nothing in her aspirations, leads him to experience much of the same... Couldn't put it down. My first Faust novel, have already ordered 2 more!